Welcome to Whitechapel. We're running on a sleek little Vanilla engine that's as pretty under the hood as she is on the surface, because Warren has excellent taste in software. However, some of you are more familiar with other forum systems, so I've put together a quick starter guide to getting around the place.

User Settings

Once you're signed in, go ahead and click over to the Account tab to set up your WhiteChapel profile.

From the Personal Information section (in the sidebar, under Account Options) you can set up all the standards (Name, Profile Pic, Icon), as well as your Flickr photo feed, and any custom information you'd like to share (Website, birthday, how many cats you own, etc).

Your Flickr photostream id is a string of letters and numbers you can find by looking at your RSS feed on Flickr. It'll look something like 123456789@N01. Just cut and paste that into the "Flickr Feed" box (on the Account Options page) and hit save at the bottom of the page.

Oh yes! Always keep your email address up to date in your account profile. We're never going to do anything with that information, but your email address is the only way for you to retrieve your password if you forget it. Again, if you lose your password and didn't have your real email address in your profile, that's it -- we can't get you back in to your account.

Posting and Replies

You can start a new discussion by clicking on the aptly named "Start a new discussion" link at the top of the sidebar. From the compose screen you can pick the appropriate Category, a title, and write your post. The quicktags along the top of the input box are for formatting your text (bold, italic, spoilers, code) and easily inserting links, images, audio and video. Whitechapel supports YouTube/Google video and any mp3 file. Just click the "video/mp3" quicktag, and paste the url of the video or mp3 (just the url of videos, without any of the embed code).

Note: Videos/audio will not show up in the "Preview Post" screen, but everything else (images, formatting) should. Whitechapel does not directly support posting the embed code provided by YouTube, but using the video/mp3 quicktag with the video's URL will automagically embed for you. Linked mp3 audio files will display with a mini audio player in the post, to allow for inline playing.

To reply to a discussion, just scroll to the bottom of the thread and use the "Add your comments" form. Quicktags are the same as for creating a post, and you can preview your comment before adding it to the thread.

If you forget to pick a category when starting a new discussion, or notice a typo after you've posted, the edit link is in the top right corner of your post. Don't forget to close your tags! You can use the "Close Tags" quicktag to make sure everything is cleaned up before you post.*And that's pretty much the start. It's all pretty straightforward, but you also shouldn't hesitate to ask if you've got any questions or are wondering where anything is. If and as we add new features we'll note them in this section, and you can feel free to ask about functions here or let us know if you run into any troubles.

--A

THE RULES

The rules are very simple.

* Don't Be An Arsehole.

Being an arsehole may get you cautioned. It may get you suspended. It may get you locked out. These punishments will be delivered randomly, haphazardly, ruthlessly and sometimes without any warning. It will totally depend on whether or not I've had enough caffeine and nicotine. Arse Eels may be involved. When in doubt: just don't be an arsehole. If you don't know how not to be an arsehole? Ask a grown-up. Straight up: if you can't spend time on the web without abusing other people or generally fucking with things, you're going to get bounced out of here pretty sharpish. Okay?

* Don't Come Here Just To Argue.

It is boring to me. When Ariana or I tell you to shut up? It's time to shut up now.

* You Own Your Own Words.

But we own the Arse Eels.

* Whitechapel is Never Safe For Work.

Seriously. I mean, don't even think about complaining about that.

* Don't Post Your Fiction Here.

It makes the place a legal minefield. I don't have a problem with fan art, but fan fiction creates difficulties for me and any other pro writer visiting. This is not up for discussion. I refer you to Arse Eels above, yes?

And that's about it, really. You may run free, my children. Stick to the intent of each Category when you're posting. If what you've got doesn't fit any category, or doesn't fit anyone's concept of sanity, then into London Zoo it goes, and you can take your chances in the swamp there. God only knows what'll end up growing in that place.

We reserve the right to edit, add to or deny the existence of the above at any time we feel like.

.png, .gif, and .jpg will all work fine -- just make sure you're linking the actual image (the bit with the .jpg/.gif/.png bit on the end of the address), not an album page (something ending in .php or .html, often).

It's anchored around a contest submission I completed last night, and the first thought I had was just to pimp my submission (needs to get a plurality of votes to get into the final round, where pros listen to it), and that's why I want your OK.

Because the subject of the thread, I think, should be fine: alternative marketing for books and the use/advantage/disadvantage of involving fans. But I needed to come clean on the part on where it comes out of begging for votes on my thing that I did. Because I'll be doing that too.

I can find myself but when I click on view all members it comes up blank.

Nah, there's just been too many people for a while. If you had a super-connection and waited for ten minutes or so, it'd eventually show up. Only reason it's still up is so you can see it on the individual users pages.

This may not be the right place for this, but could one of the admins please edit out my last name from my post here? http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=2801&page=5 - I'm being bothered by creepy internet people from other places online, and regret putting it there. :\